Sunday, July 05, 2009

AlZ recently delivered this jewel to my mailbox and opened up the world of Ozric Tentacles to my water-logged brain. I'm sure glad he did. More later.

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Biography by John BushA band from another time, Ozric Tentacles served as the bridge from '70s cosmic rock to the organic dance and festival culture which came back into fashion during the '90s. Formed in 1983 with a debt to jazz fusion as well as space rock, the band originally included guitarist Ed Wynne, drummer Nick Van Gelder, keyboard player Joie Hinton, bassist Roly Wynne and second guitarist Gavin Griffiths (though Griffiths left in 1984). The Ozrics played in clubs around London, meanwhile releasing six cassette-only albums beginning with 1984's Erpsongs. (All six were later collected on the Vitamin Enhanced box set, despite a threatened lawsuit from the Kellogg's cereal company for questionable artwork.) In 1987, Merv Pepler replaced Van Gelder, and synthesizer player Steve Everett was also added.Ozric Tentacles' first major release, the 1990 album Erpland, foreshadowed the crusty movement, a British parallel to America's hippy movement of the '60s. Crusties borrowed the hippies' organic dress plus the cosmic thinking of new agers, and spent most of their time traveling around England to various festivals and outdoor gatherings. The movement fit in perfectly with bands like Ozric Tentacles and the Levellers, and the Ozrics' 1991 album Strangeitude became their biggest seller yet, occasioning a U.S. contract with Capitol. After the British-only Afterswish and Live Underslunky, 1993's Jurassic Shift hit number 11 on the British charts -- quite a feat for a self-produced album released on the Ozrics' own Dovetail label. The album was released in America by I.R.S. Records, as was 1994's Arborescence. Neither album translated well with American audiences -- despite the band's first U.S. tour in 1994 -- and Ozric Tentacles returned to its Dovetail label for 1995's Become the Other. Waterfall Cities closed out the decade in 1999, and the following summer the group resurfaced with Swirly Termination. Hinton and Pepler also perform in the trance-techno outfit Eat Static, and have released several albums on Planet Dog Records. Ozric Tentacles surfaced in 2000 to release Hidden Step, followed by the EP Pyramidion. In 2002, Live at the Pongmasters Ball came out on both CD and DVD, making it their first venture into the latter.

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Review by Bradley TorreanoWhile the mainstream media was as far away from experimental space rock as it ever has been in 1991, Ozric Tentacles was making fascinating and very original music with few noticing outside of their homegrown "crusty movement." Mind-bogglingly talented and forward-thinking, Ozric Tentacles took this moment in their career to take their folk tendencies, add a heaping dose of weirdness, and connect it all with a dash of the emerging electronica scene to create a wildly experimental yet highly accessible sound that was all their own. One look at "Sploosh!" reveals throbbing synthesizers, continually changing water sound effects, heavily processed virtuoso guitar, hypnotic conga beats, and an amazing array of repetitive percussions that lead to a fascinating journey through their complex compositional skills. Not every track is that dense, but in general Strangeitude works because of their ability to build layer upon layer of sounds that bring the listener to different places. This music takes patience, as many times the subtle changes and winding melodies are hard to keep up with unless full attention is paid. But what makes this so rewarding is the delivery, as guitars dive bomb into the music and result in explosions of instrumental complexities that make perfect sense. What's even more impressive is how easy it is to go back to the record for repeat listens, despite the almost-complete lack of vocals, the time dedicated to the tracks (which are rarely under seven minutes), and the abrasive and experimental nature of their arrangements. Without needless noodling or druggy tautology, Ozric Tentacles unveiled a magnificent space rock effort that won them a contract with Capitol Records and finally brought them to American audiences.